Posts by wanderingridge

Brandon Hayes73 said:Since I'm already out here dropping links from the web, might as well toss in another good one:

What’s even the point here? Is it all about the fancy certificates or just
😬

Brandon Hayes73 said:So, I'm apparently already 33 years old

Look, buddy, you’ve officially crossed over into senior citizen territory

Brandon Hayes73 said:🤣

Honestly, thank God they have separate weight classes at the Miami Open too...

But look, in amateur wrestling, it just doesn't work like that. You've got beginner, intermediate, and advanced—though honestly, even those labels are kind of a joke.
I mean, I'm not entirely sure where the cutoff lines are drawn, but I assume "beginner" covers you up to a year or maybe eighteen months, then "intermediate" goes up to three years, and "advanced" kicks in after that. The thing is, plenty of guys showing up to our local amateur tournaments have been at it for over three years already.

briskjackal5 said:Categorizing things into purple, brown, and black isn't exactly a struggle for us...😁

But honestly, we barely have any blue ones either.

- Steven -

Look, fine, but that’s just how it is out there. Though, I suppose even so—if you only had white and blue and then split them into categories, the numbers would practically drop by half immediately. We aren't quite at that stage yet; that's just the reality here.
It’s still a bit unfair, though. Pizdek and his crew are technically much closer to the purple/brown/black level than they are to white, yet they're stuck with whites (I mean, damn it, when the situation is this bad and we have so few specialists left 😬).

Nathan Adams55 said:Oh, for crying out loud... Seriously... It wasn't exactly some massive tournament back then either.

Hmm... well, maybe not. Look, there were about a hundred fighters there, which actually counts as a pretty large turnout. However—and this is the thing—BJJ suffers from a specific issue you just don't see in other combat sports. It’s the way categories are structured. You aren't just splitting people by weight; you have to factor in belt levels too. So, you take your weight classes—say, 150, 165, 185, 205, 225, and 225+ lbs—and then you slice those groups up again into white, blue, purple, brown, and black belts. Suddenly, you end up with a bracket that only has three or four competitors in it. It’s an absolute mess. And honestly? In a place like the US, where BJJ hasn't quite hit mainstream saturation yet, that kind of thin matchmaking is practically inevitable.

Personally, I thought it was a decent flick. Hostel was pretty dull if you ask me, but Descent? Now that was actually quite good.

Good grief, did they even leave anything for the Canadians?
And what about how the Mexicans fared? How many fights did it actually take to snag a medal? Come on, give us some actual details here.

Laura Lewis5 said:Would any sane person actually bulk up just to get their teeth kicked in?
It’s either a massive conspiracy or pure insanity!

For heaven's sake, he’s putting on weight just to match the heavyweights! That is standard procedure—honestly, have you ever even stepped foot in a gym or watched a single MMA fight?? Clearly, you haven't.
And besides, Silva is a legitimate warrior; there isn't a hint of corruption in his game. Do you seriously think he'd jeopardize his entire status as a middleweight champion over a few measly thousand bucks? 🙄

Jerry Thompson said:We aren't looking for athletic glory here; we’re chasing technical mastery. :P 😉

Whatever. You really think you can actually get good at anything if you’re only putting in the work three times a week? Please. It’s laughable. Honestly, I’m being serious here—you can't just show up occasionally and expect mastery. Mastery requires obsession. If you aren't doing it every single day, you're basically just playing around. It's all just wasted motion at that point. Total joke.
Easygoing, pure skill, lethal techniques, and all that good stuff... you know how it goes.

dustywolf52 said:There’s one glaring inconsistency here. If you’re claiming there’s no such thing as Leung Ting Wing Chun, Wong Wing Chun, or Bayer Wing Chun—whatever else—then by what logic do you suddenly decide Yip Man Wing Chun actually exists?

Look, let me draw a parallel to BJJ for a second—people go around saying "Gracie Jiu-Jitsu" or "Machado Jiu-Jitsu," etc., but at the end of the day, it’s all just plain old Jiu-Jitsu.

It’s not even close—it's just some weird mashup of Karate and Taekwondo. It’s light-years away from actual UFC fighting.
It’s all just point-stop sparring and standing on your feet.

That was ages ago, honestly—I don’t even deal with that scene anymore. As far as I know, that specific federation is long gone; they basically just folded into the Taekwondo association.
There wasn't even much of a turnout, really. You’d see maybe three or four fights before someone walked away with gold. We’d get some folks traveling in from neighboring states for the open tournaments, but even then, the whole level of competition felt pretty underwhelming overall.

Yeah, you’re gonna get some intel straight from the American champion in that absolute dumpster fire of a league 🤣
The gear? It's full-on Taekwondo (ITF) style, but you throw in some kickboxing gloves. Scoring is based on being the first to hit 6 points. They stop the action after every single point—total point-stop style. As for the strikes, they follow kickboxing rules, though they don't allow low kicks. Now, the rulebook officially claims head strikes have to be controlled, but let's be real... in practice, those refs were letting full-power shots fly like there was no tomorrow.

Absolutely stellar. He was just completely, utterly dominant out there. Absolutely insane!

skeptik said:Well, there might be some preliminary fights before the main semi-finals that they don't broadcast.

Look, they broadcast the entire UFC event. Every single fight. That’s exactly why this thing is going to drag on forever. Usually, when I order the UFC pay-per-views, they run about three hours, but those have all the fluff edited out—you know, the fighter entrances, the breaks, the little intros... if we're watching the raw version, this could easily hit four hours, maybe even longer!
Here is the lineup
-Yosuke Nishi vs. Cyborg " Santos (opening bout)
-Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Josh Barnett (Grand Prix Semi-final #1)
-Mirko CroCop vs. Vanderlei Silva (Grand Prix Semi-final #2)
-Sergei Kharitonov vs. Aleksander Emelianenko
-Ricardo Morais vs. Lee tae Hyun
-Kazuhiro Nakamura vs. Yoshihiro Nakao
-Ricardo Aron vs. Alistair Overeem - Mauricio " Shogun
-Rua vs. Cyrille " The Snake " Diabate
-Grand Prix Semi-final #1 winner vs. Grand Prix Semi-final #2 winner (main-event)

Good grief, I cannot believe this... absolutely unbelievable

Brenda Adams4 said:Question: Is there an Ultimate or MMA club in Springfield?

The closest thing I could track down was Champion Gym, though I suspect they might just be strictly BJJ.

They do BJJ, but if my memory serves—and it usually does, despite my failings—I think there are a few folks there doing MMA since they have a kickboxing club under the same roof too. Actually, a buddy of mine competed in an MMA tournament over in Chicago representing Champion Gym.
Anyway, is it really that much effort to just show up and ask if you’re actually serious about it?

David Lewis7 said:I’m honestly just glad to be back in the mix with you guys 🙂 , looks like nothing has changed around here—wanderingridge is still out there looking for some kind of divine proof that strikers are total frauds

But man, you really missed the mark there. Look, I respect stand-up fighting just as much as I respect grappling, truly I do, but I’d argue that trying to separate them is like trying to run a race with one leg tied behind your back. 😬

Just ask Uncle Jacarea 😬

It’s just awful. I’m feeling completely rattled, so naturally, I’m lashing out at the local IT department, and on top of all that, I can't even get my Wi-Fi to connect. A total moron, truly.